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Living Trust of Frank Sinatra Sinatra died May 14, 1998, at the age of 82 after suffering a heart attack. Like the song, Frank Sinatra did his Last Will his way. The Last Will, dated May 1, 1993, divides most of Sinatra's considerable estate between his fourth wife, Barbara Marx, and his three children, Frank Jr., Nancy and Tina. The Frank Sinatra zinger is that since he was aware of the significant animosity between his children, who were products of his first marriage to Nancy Barbato, and his wife, Sinatra included a clause in his Last Will that automatically disinherits anyone who contests it. That means the heirs will have to make nice if they want to collect. No one who was mentioned in Sinatra's Last Will took advantage of the first opportunity to challenge it in court. A lawyer for the estate's executors credits a no-contest clause in the Last Will with being a "substantial deterrent" to any challenges. "Anyone knows if they want to challenge the Last Will they better succeed because if they fail they are going to disinherit themselves completely," said lawyer Andrew Garb. The most contentious of the provisions in the Last Will is the issue of who may merchandise Frank�s name, a valuable asset since his brand name appears on a huge volume of merchandise. The Last Will gives this asset to Frank�s fourth wife Barbara, whereas in the latter part of his life it was controlled by his daughter Tina. Frank obviously knew that this change in direction would cause even more friction between his families. It is significant that the bulk of Sinatra's net worth - between $200 and $600 million - was set aside in a living trust enacted before his death. The living trust has significant tax advantages for the beneficiaries. Furthermore, unlike the Last Will, which is subject to a review in probate court and is therefore a public document, the contents of the living trust are confidential � also something Frank would like. It is known that the children received rights to most of their dad's lucrative music catalog. Ol' Blue Eyes also added $1million to a living trust fund established earlier for his two grandchildren. Most of his estate had previously been put into a living trust, separate to the grandchildren's trust. In that fund, known as a living trust, Sinatra's children were given rights to much of the singer's music catalogue. Sinatra's attorney, Harvey Silbert said: "There are very substantial assets in the trust." Here are other provisions of the Last Will:
"Living Trust of Frank Sinatra" All news
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